A**Y
The Best Respect Godzilla Has Gotten!!
Just wanted to say if you have any thought in your mind about purchasing this, BUY IT NOW! I bought this when it was around thirty-five dollars and it was worth every penny. The main-menus are very well done and they really tried give the fans what they wanted. I'm so glad they included the Japanese uncut version with excellent special features. I hated the fact that I missed out on minutes of footage on my 15 year old VHS tapes.Godzilla King of Monsters- Godzilla doesn't fight any monsters in this one, but this film is incredible. It was the first time I saw it, which was only months ago, it went way past my expectations. It was creepy, cool and loved seeing Godzilla as the bad guy. Probably the best Godzilla storyline out of all the movies. I mean the human scenes were interesting to watch! I couldn't believe this was possible in a godzilla film. The heavily edited dubbed American version isn't horrible, but there's no positive reason to watch it, unless you hate reading subtitles. 10/10 (for original) 5/10 (for American)Godzilla Raids Again- The sequel to King of Monsters! Now this godzilla film is pretty good. Godzilla is still heel which is nice, and we get to see the first appearnce of Anguirus, which is one of my favorite monsters. The black and white film is still here keeping it more dark and evil. The human scenes are not near as good as the first one's, but I liked the military discussion scenes. The biggest problem about the film is the fight between Godzill and Angurius... it's in fast motion and it was a stupid idea for the film-makers to do this. I still like it though. The iceberg conflict, godzilla's crazy teeth and roars make this a good one. Except the American version which switches Godzilla and Angurius' roar... which detracts from the film immensely. The iceberg scenes are some of the most exciting and intense as well. 7.5/10 or 8/10 if fight scene wasn't in fast motion.Godzilla vs. Mothra- Godzilla makes an awesome entrance and is still a heel, but is shown more as a destructive force of nature, which is how it should be. The big-due breaks a lot of buildings, destroys a lot of tanks and kills Mothra. Human scenes are watchable and actually interesting. The American version actually adds a military scene where the shoot missles at Godzilla which is really awesome, which gives a slight advantage in the version to watch, but the American version does have weaker quality than Japanese version. Also, out of every Godzilla film, this has the best suit-acting in my opinion, also the first time you get to here the amazing Godzilla theme, it's very powerful and gives me goosebumps. 9.5/10Ghidorah the three-headed Monster- Really good godzilla film. Godzilla, Rodan, Mothra and King-Ghidorah cause some hell. Lot of action, in the last half anyway. Watch Japenese version, for American editing issues. Godzilla and Rodan fighting is probably the highlight of the film and it's the last time Godzilla has his smoke breath. The final battle is decent, great team-work moments. Godzilla throws a bit too many rocks though. The human scenes also get in the way of the battle sometimes. Also the Godzilla theme is also present in this one, making it even more awesome. 9/10Godzilla vs. Monster Zero- Basically, the sequel to Ghidorah!! Pretty similair to first (monsters fight ghidorah), excpet there's two excellent fight scenes that are more impressive than the first, without the addition of Mothra (thank goodness). Excellent action and fight scenes, that are very memorable. American version is fine since almost nothing is edited out. Just avoid human scenes though... they're very dull. The Godzilla suit, has an improved look as well. Also, look for the Godzilla jump!! 9/10Godzilla's Revenge- Basically a collection of Godzilla's battles on monster-island, since all the fights are just repeats from other films. Great film, if you just watch the fights. But Minilla and the boy are horrible to watch. Lots of action and Godzilla kicking butt, this one isn't really worth watching if you've seen all the other one's though. I would watch Japenese to avoid the bad dubbing. 5.0 (I can't decide if the American Gojira is worse or better than this.)Terror of MechaGodzilla- The sequel to Godzilla vs. Mecha. Not as good as the first one, but still delivers some good action. Godzilla is outnumbered and both his entrances are cool, especially the first one. Godzilla's roar doesn't sound right, it seems like they're recordings of old recordings of Godzilla's roar. Titanosaurus isn't that great, but it's nice to see a new monster. I like how Mechagodzilla was taken down and the human involvment. American and Japenese version seemed pretty similiar to me. The camera angles and shots are arguably the best in the series. Last Godzilla film of the Showa series. 8/10I'm glad that Classic Media released this. You should definetely invest your money in this if your Godzilla fan. The commentary tracks on the American versions, make this set even more recommended, as they point out things, ask questions, have past interview recordings and let you learn so much more about the films and Godzilla overall. Overall the rating of all the films on average is an 8, which is really impressive. Awesome set that is 100% mandatory for fans. I wish Classic Media had the rights to all the Godzilla films. Overall, 9.5/10.
A**D
Quite a nice package of Showa-era films
I'd have to say this is probably the nicest collection of G films that is currently available. Classic Media really outdid themselves here given the lack of care with other Godzilla releases. The physical outer case is embarrassingly well-built and attractive. The photos in the product description can't do it justice. The cases for the individual films are just as aesthetically pleasing. Unfortunately, I found these to function rather poorly (excluding the Gojira/Godzilla 2-disc set). The spines are TOO thick/strong and prevent the front flap from staying closed on its own since there is no locking mechanism. Opening them makes an extremely unhealthy sound of dried glue being ripped off cardboard, although no harm is ever done to the case. It was pretty alarming the first time I opened them. My biggest complaint with the cases are the ridiculous death grip they have on discs. I became so fearful of disc damage that eventually I took a little nail file ever-so-slightly to the plastic tabs in order to round them off a little bit. It did the trick but I got a little careless and rounded one off too much so now the disc easily falls out. If these weren't in a bigger case it would be terrible to deal with these individually. I bought my set a while ago so they may have fixed these quirks since then. Maybe someone else can comment?But my minor gripes with the cases are by far the biggest drawback to this set. The DVD production is really top-notch on them all. Beautiful menus and navigation genuinely reflect the film and it's time. The prints used for all the Japanese versions were in extremely good, clean condition. Vibrant colors, sharp detail, etc. A couple of the films' Americanized versions are comparatively poor being dark with considerable scratches. I certainly wouldn't consider any of them "unwatchable." Its my understanding that as these DVDs were being released individually Classic Media eventually started using the already-restored footage from the Japanese versions to reconstruct the English ones. Kind of disappointing this wasn't the case for Mothra vs. Godzilla because the English dub of this film is what sparked my interest in Godzilla as a kid. I realize that most people would rather watch the original Japanese cuts anyways. Not really a big deal I suppose. I also find it ironic that arguably the worst Godzilla film ever made, All Monsters Attack aka Godzilla's Revenge, is arguably the best overall quality here. It's kind of hard to grade the audio track to films that are 35-60 years old. None of them have a strong hiss or contain pops and crackles so I'd call them adequate.The special features are a mixed bag. Trailers are always fun to watch and they are in decent shape. Those classic posters are great to see too. There is nothing real profound in the way of featurettes. It's quite understandable considering the severe lack of media surrounding the production of these films. I'd imagine producing a brand new full-length documentary would probably be far too costly. Instead we get some extremely detailed commentaries by very well-informed experts. Combining the commentaries with the featurettes gives you an excellent overview in the same way a documentary would. In terms of the extras, Classic Media probably did the most effective job they could based on what they were given.I'd say this set is a must-have for even casual G fans. The excellent DVD presentation more than makes up for the superficial packaging flaws. It's not enough to justify knocking off a whole star. I bought this nearly 2 years ago and since then the price has dropped to nearly half that. At the current price of $19 this is a steal.***EDIT*** May 6, 2012It appears Classic Media now has a re-designed case with flimsy standard-sized DVD cases (divided in 2 volumes). Sadly many companies are re-packaging older box sets and labeling them as "slim packaging." In reality they should just be calling these "corner-cutting cheapie cases." While I complained about the functionality of the first version at least it was very solid, pretty unique, and aesthetically pleasing. These new cases appear mediocre on all levels. However I don't see it as being a deal breaker. The set is still a good value based on disc content alone (even with a price hike to now $25) but it loses some pizazz with this case downgrade.
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